Still Believing in ANOK: Cress "Monuments" Lp, 1995

This is the final part of Still Believing in ANOK and I hope the reads were fun and at least a little informative. If you need to show off on social media or indeed shine on online dating website, some details included in the write-ups (or, shall I say, the columns) can be used effectively as pick-up lines. Questions like "Did you know that the singer of Avaricious was Greek?" or "How many Enola Gays do you know?" are bound to impress, win hearts and make you look suave, sophisticated and, let's get real, weak-in-the-knees level irresistible. Do not hesitate to use them on a first date. The first time I met my wife, we talked about Polish hardcore bands form the 80's Rejestracja and Insekty Na Jajach so anything's possible.

To wrap up the series about the legacy of the 80's anarchopunk sound, let's talk about a band whose name means: "any of various plants with small, green leaves, used especially in salads". Yes indeed. Cress. The hippiest anarchopunk band from the 90's (and the 2010's). Not only is the band named after a plant instead of a warplane or some other cool punk shit, but they have a keyboard and a drum machine, used strobes, weird lights, a smoke machine, looked like soap-dodging versions of Jesus leaving one unsure if they are going to spread peace, love and riffs or if they are going to ask for a fiver so they can buy herbs. I even remember them screening political films while they were playing somewhere in Scotland, as if punks could concentrate on pogoing to the music AND focusing on a film at the same time. And yet, they are absolutely brilliant. Ian Glasper suggests in Trapped in a Scene that "had it been released in the Eighties, it (the Monuments Lp) would doubtless be heralded an anarchopunk classic today" and I cannot disagree. Of all the records I have been reviewing in the series, Monuments is the one that can objectively be called a genuine 90's classic the most. Beside being a famous work (even people who have never actually heard it know about it or at least can safely pretend to and if you feel the need to lie about knowing a record, it is already saying something about its status), I have never really read bad reviews. The Lp is unique because Cress are unique and I cannot really think of anything similar before and even after.

"But when, Grand Führer of the Perfect Punk Taste, did you first bump into Cress?". Well, I downloaded one mp3 file from a British website (I can't remember the name, it was in the early 00's) that offered songs from many quite a few bands of the era. Because internet connections were slower than an avant-garde French movie, there was only one song per band (I am aware that it must sound like the Dark Ages for Gen Z's who think youtube is as old as electricity) and it took about an afternoon to download two minutes of music. I think songs from the likes of Chineapple Punks, Riot/Clone or Ex-Cathedra were available. The Cress song was "TV screen" and I must confess that I did not like the song as it reminded me of the Ramones for some reason and I have always disliked them. To this day, I feel weird listening to this particular number and I cannot help imaging the Ramones with Northern accents playing their songs on shrooms and cider with a man playing the didgeridoo in the background. Which does not sound so bad after all. Some time after this precious mp3, I had the chance to visit a great punk record store in Bochum, Germany, and they had the Cress discography which, I was told, was much better than the Recharge Lp I was also coveting. I ended up buying both (I mean there was a free patch in the Recharge Lp) and got heavily into Cress, not so much that I grew a beard, which I have never been able to anyway, what with looking like an eternal teenager, but I did stop showering for a couple of weeks. 

But what makes Monuments so special? Well, if you know a little about the history of alternative rock music in England, the cover depicting Stonehenge certainly indicates that the music and the band may have some sort of connections, literal or in inspiration, with the free festivals. Namely inventive psychedelic rock music, libertarian politics and the involvement of some anarchopunk bands in the 80's. Cress were not the first punk band to play with trippy psychedelic influences and atmospherics and 80's bands like Smartpils, Freak Electric, Hippie Slags and even The Mob claimed such influences. Later on in the late 80's/early 90's, Zygote, Bad Influence or Contropotere (and later on Iowaska), in their own specific way, also used psychedelic elements in the songwriting but none of these bands went as far as integrating a keyboard in the equation. A bold move that, interestingly, could also be found first in old-school crust bands like Amebix or Axegrinder, but also Χαοτικό Τέλος/Chaotic End or Counterblast, and although they used it differently the intent still had to do with creating a particular ambiance and atmosphere. Cress however went further as Monuments relied significantly on those long atmospheric passages providing narrative spaces and an epic ark for the story the album aimed to tell. It is beyond punk-rock and for all the apparent simplicity of the songs, and a lot of them are simple punk songs in the best Crass sense of the term, there are additional layers and textures and quieter trippier moments to widen the scope.

Monuments can thus appeal to different crowds. If you are fond of dynamic, tribal, anthemic anarcho punk-rock, or of Hawkwind-inspired rocking atmospheric punk music, or heavy crusty punk, Monuments has something to offer you, as long as you take acid beforehand. Often reduced to a Crass-like act (for the danceable directness of the riffs and some beats and the bloody name), Cress can also be defined as a heavy and dark band and I can hear Antisect influences in some of the mid-paced moments and of course in the vocal style and tone and anger of the two vocalists (In Darkness There is no Choice era) so that it is not surprising that they also appeal to crust lovers (the dreads and the scruffy look also help). This album works is versatile enough to work for all kinds of mood as well. It is Sunday morning, you are in a good mood because you only drank eleven pints the night before and you are looking for some UK punk-rock with tunes: Monuments. It is Monday night, it is pouring rain and work is killing you, you are looking for something heavy, snotty and angry: Monuments. You are on holiday and for the first time since April, you look up to the sky and, fuck me, these are stars, ain't they: Monuments. 

The lyrics on the album are solid and tackle a wide array of subjects, some classic anarchopunk rants about progress, ecology or the capitalist class, other are more original "Monuments" is about the free unrestricted access to Stonehenge (the monument in question) and our common heritage, "Fear" is about the omnipresent fears that we have in society, fear of being unloved, alone, ignored, irrelevant, it is a great topic, genuinely personal and political. And apparently Cress don't like the police either for some reason. The album was released on Flat Earth Records (one of my favourite labels from that period) and the band recorded a split with Doom and an Ep before taking a break. Cress came back in the late 00's and since then have released a split Ep with Burnt Cross, a benefit Ep for the hunt sabs and a very solid split Lp with fellow psychedelic anarcho punks Buff from Manchester.    

My copy was second-hand and there is some surface noise on a couple of songs so that you can enjoy the full - lesser - Terminal Sound Nuisance experience. Did I mention that one of the members was barefoot when I saw them in Paris in June. How many punk points does that make you lose?

Monuments to cress        

Japanese Crust vs The World (part 11): Zoe "The last axe beat" Lp, 2004

I left 2016 with some over-the-top Japanese Amebix-worship in the shape of early Acrostix and, to smoothen everyone's transition into the new year, I shall enter 2017 with (wait for it, wait for it...) more Japanese Amebix-worship! Now, before you roll your eyes, point your bony finger at me, blame me for this indecent display of unoriginality and accuse me of laziness, let's take a deep breath and think about it for a second. And while we're at it let's open that can of cider you've been saving for special occasions.

I cannot count the many times I have heard people complain about punk being redundant and boring for its lack of originality... Usually, as a backing for such arguments, a diatribe about bands sounding like Discharge (or any other cult band depending on what kind of punks you hang out with) quickly follows, as if it were the irrefutable evidence of punk's hopeless lack of creativity. And I am not saying that there is no truth in such claims and I often find myself mumbling whenever I hear a new "crust" band trying aimlessly to be a death-metal one but ending up sounding boring and stale. Still, "worship-type bands" should not be discarded just for the fact that they build their discourse on another band's legacy and sometimes it requires a lot of inventiveness and indeed of creativity to emulate a specific band in a way that is highly referential but still brings an interesting, fresh perspective. Basically both unoriginal and original at the same time and still sounding good. After all, you could very well see the very careful emulation of Discharge's "Why" as a rather interesting exercise that paradoxically needs an important level of artistic sensibility and clever songwriting to be properly achieved. Of course, Discharge is not the most relevant example here since repetition and redundancy were crucial to their music in the first place as they shaped a new language and semiotic system that many bands still directly use nowadays, the degree of strictness varying from one band to another.

Of course, one is free to think that "worship-type bands" are ridiculous and goofy and that they should play stoner-ska or blackened-shoegaze or something that has never been done before instead of rewriting Amebix songs. Like Zoe. Because that is exactly what this band is doing. They take several elements of the Amebix legacy, sometimes directly referring to the Amebixian scriptures, at other times including post-Amebix influences, and blend them, from a Japanese crust context, in order to create a music that embodies amebixness and whose originality resides precisely in this creative drive that encompasses both the actual band and its direct legacy. On a metatextual level, Zoe also incarnate the potent fascination that Amebix have always held in the punk world. The overt referentiality can then be seen as a reflection of the mythic quality of the band, Zoe's work thus becoming a self-aware discourse about both amebixian music and our own obsession with it (the claim that the band aimed at creating a metadiscourse might be far-fetched but that is my own reading, make of it what you will).

Zoe were from Osaka and apparently formed in the late 90's, although their first demo, "The beginning", was only recorded in 2002 because of line-up instability from what I can gather. At the core of the band was Taki (aka TM Spider on "From Hell" and Lightning Baron on "The last axe beat"), previously in Gloom, Defector (as the "metal guitar") or War Cry, who played the guitar, sang and even produced Zoe's records so it is safe to assume that much of the songwriting was also his. The name "Zoe" is a bit mysterious in terms of paronomasia... "Inferno Punx" spells it as "Z.O.E." so it might very well be an acronym I am not aware of (but I don't have a clue either so any informed guess is welcome here). Taken simply as "Zoe", the name might refer to "zoea", which is some sort of larva in the crustacean world. This would make sense I suppose since the zoea is a primitive life form just like the amoeba, the spelling variation being yet an additional reference to Amebix and their name-making process. On the records, the phrase "The darkest heavy" actually precedes the name "Zoe". I cannot really pronounce "The darkest heavy Zoe" without giggling so I assume it is not really a part of the moniker but must be read as some sort of slogan beside being a wink at "The darkest hour" and stating what Zoe were going for in terms of mood: dark and heavy.

I distinctly remember the first time I heard of Zoe. A mate of mine, known to be a grumpy but quite knowledgeable geezer in terms of Japanese noize and crust (he even distributed some Crust War releases in Paris in the early 00's), told me that he was about to receive a new record from the label that I might enjoy. To be truthful, I think he phrased it like that: "They are called Zoe and they are dreadful, absolute rubbish Amebix-type heavy-metal with bloody makeup on... I am sure you are going to love them". And of course, he was right, I loved them straight away.

The band's first recording was the four-song 2002 demo entitled "The beginning", a rather thinly produced effort (it even has some unwanted feedback here and there) that still set the basis for the Zoe sound to great effect. By no means was Zoe the first band to go for Amebix-worship, but they took a rather unique creative stance. Bands like Axegrinder ("Serpent men" era) and Misery had reworked the Amebix sound very early on by making it heavier, doomier and, dare I say it, crustier, which was the logical step in the late 80's. Zoe, on the other hand, from the vantage point of view of the early 00's, did not merely take Amebix into account but the entire Amebix world, in other terms the "post-Amebix' bands like Zygote or Muckspreader or those that gravitated around them like Smartpils and other pagan psychedelic acts. This shift informed Zoe's music and aesthetics deeply and unless you are actually interested in Amebix as a band, vibe and worldview, you will probably miss what Zoe were ambitiously trying to do: syncretizing the Amebix world. I am not saying they did it perfectly but the intent is indeed fascinating and taking it into consideration, it made perfect sense that Zoe included heavy-metal, grungy and psychedelic bits into their music, just like Zygote did.

But let's get back to the band's discography before getting seriously into the Lp. After the demo, Zoe had one instrumental song, "Spere alive", included on "The Darkest 4" compilation tape, a rough number that sounded like an eerie tribute to the song "Monolith" that opens the eponymous album. In 2003, Crust War released the Ep "From Hell", a much better-recorded work with a title-track that still stands probably as the best blend of Zygote, Amebix and Antisect to this day. Apparently, Zoe were meant to do a split record with Effigy at that time. The two bands were close (the members of Effigy even told the Zoe story on the album's insert... with added Effigy visuals!) and, although the split did not materialize, not only did Zoe and Effigy release an Ep with the same title, "From Hell", almost simultaneously, but the bands also did their own respective version of the same song, also called "From Hell", which highlighted their different but ultimately complimentary takes on the old-school crust sound. Listening carefully to these two versions back to back is actually a brilliant exercise and an articulate essay about the discrepancies and parallels between them would make for an ideal entry test for my soon-to-open Department of Crust Studies. Right? The Ep also included some sort of strange teaser with just the first minute of "Spider" that would appear in its entirety on the Lp (I haven't figured that one out yet).

The album "The last axe beat" is undeniably Zoe's most accomplished work (the Lp format arguably fits the genre better). Perfectly-produced (you can really tell since four of the seven songs are new recordings of previously released songs) and displaying top notch musicianship, it is expectedly saturated with varying degrees of Amebix and Zygote referentiality, in shape and content, but it does not have the dreaded sloppy patchwork feel. If anything, I would say it sounds like a huge painting representing the Amebix universe, or like very well-crafted and tasteful crustpants. The music is certainly dark and heavy but not in the common accepted sense of "loud and crushing" that too many bands adopt (and no, adding death-metal riffs and guttural vocals will not necessarily make your sound heavier or darker). The album is groovy, powerful and has a genuinely epic quality but must be understood as a vibe-driven record. There is a very specific atmosphere pervading the songs, although they are quite diverse in terms of beats and moods. "The last axe beat" revolves around a carefully construed "Amebix essence" that is to be found in different times, places and shapes in the Amebix universe (I am aware that I am starting to sound like a New Age preacher but hold on in there). It has the same ritualistic, tribal, pagan feel with an earthy and dark but euphoric psychedelic vibe reinforced with the high-pitched almost heavy-metal vocals. You could make a comprehensive list of each amebixian element and then find them all on "The last axe beat" (which can be played as an Amebix bingo as well): the "Arise!" tribal beats, the "Monolith" synth-driven bits, the "Wind of knives" heavy rock/grungy moments, the classic Amebix arpeggio ones, the typical bass sound, the fast thrashy hardcore, the tuneful and lugubrious zygoty guitar leads... without mentioning several obvious reworkings of actual songs, the literal intertextuality of the song titles and the many visual references, from the font to the Amebix face.

"The last axe beat" is not a perfect album in terms of narration, as I feel it may be lacking in storytelling structure (something Amebix actually excelled at) that could have been strengthened with an actual intro and maybe a couple of additional songs (the Lp is rather short). Another missed opportunity for me lies in the overall look of the Lp, which is fine but not really spectacular. However, it is still a unique and fascinating record that is more subtle than it looks and offers a paradoxically creative perspective on crust music by working on a very specific realm. It probably will not speak to those of us that are not that much into Amebix (or are just not nerds), but as a record that literally and figuratively epitomizes the obsession with Amebix and genuinely, self-consciously embraces it, it is unrivaled. Following the album, Zoe contributed two songs to the "Konton damaging ear massacre" compilation Lp (re-recordings of "New world" and "Zygospore" that smartly refer to different recording sessions of Amebix and prove that the same song recorded differently can significantly nuance the original moods) and to "Amebix Japan" but then, at this point, it feels almost redundant or even offensive to mention it.

The meta crust remains

           
         

"Wild & Crazy "Noise Merchants"...Invade a City Near You!!: Worst of the 1in12 Club Vol.9/10" 2xLp, 1990

I always have a really good time whenever I go to the 1in12 Club. I haven't been there in a few years now to be honest (the last time was to see Antisect, Cress and Hellkrusher in 2012), but each time I went was a memorable one and the 1in12 remains one of my favourite punk venues (though it is by no means only a punk venue) and I particularly like that, as a venue and as a collective, it actually means something to support the 1in12.

I am not going to dumbly rewrite the Club's wikipedia page nor its website but the idea behind the collective that started in 1981 as an extension of the Bradford's Claimants Union was to promote and work along the principles of self-management, mutual aid and solidarity and the opening of the actual building in Bradford in 1988 was a continuation of the collective's politics. Of course, because of the particular context which saw the birth of the 1in12 (meaning, Yorkshire during the 80's), the values of the collective's members meant that they quickly became connected with the anarchopunk movement (Leeds' Chumbawamba played for them countless times). Judging from the early flyers of gigs they put on, they certainly did not restrict themselves to punk however and worked with musicians that shared similar politics, were involved in activism or wanted to support a worthy cause. I am in no way qualified enough to identify with accuracy all the bands that played for the 1in12 in the early 80's but it doesn't take long to understand that the musical spectrum was wide, from folk music, indie-rock, goth to postpunk. Like New Model Army for instance, possibly the most famous rock band to ever emerge from Bradford...

Although very much rooted in local struggles, foreign bands also played for the 1in12 Collective in the early 80's like The Ex and other Dutch anarcho bands. Judging from the list of the gigs they organized on their website, the collective slowly began to book foreign hardcore bands from the mid-80's on (bands like Lärm, Die Kreuzen or BGK) but kept having non-punk acts playing for them. "Wild & Crazy Noise Merchants" was actually the sixth 1in12 Records compilation and the second one to be released after the club opened in 1988 (the first one was another double Lp compilation, "Volnitza"). Contrary to "Decade of Dissidence" that I reviewed here a couple of years ago, the line-up on this compilation is diverse and goes beyond the confines of punk-rock. Is it going to be a challenge? What do you think! Of course it makes perfect sense since the point of "Wild & Crazy Noise Merchants" was to include bands that played the 1in12 Club between July and December, 1989, and it didn't matter if they were a gruff grindcore band or a soft indie act. On a broader level, this compilation is also interesting because it captured the mood in the very last months of the 80's, this glorious and glorified decade. For the record, the last ever 80's gigs put on by the 1in12 saw Doom, Mushroom Attack, Warfear, Psycho Flowers, Pleasant Valley Children and FUAL play. Not bad, right? But let's get to it.

- Godorrhoea: incidentally, I consider the three opening songs as the real nuggets of the compilation. Godorrhoea were an obscure and short-lived Yorkshire band that was brought back to light a few years ago with the Ep "Zeitgeist" that was released on Looney Tunes and included all the band's recordings (not many of them). For a reason that I cannot quite comprehend, the Ep did not garner the band much interest. And yet, it is, by far, the best Rudimentary Peni-worshipping band I have ever heard. Peni belongs to that category of bands that are almost impossible to accurately emulate well and I cannot think of many bands that managed to pull it (Ciril did a good job but there were other things going on in their music). But Godorrhoea did it wonderfully, focusing on the savage and demented Peni sound of the first Ep's, they penned short and fast bursts of insanity-driven, asylum punk-rock. The three songs are heavily bass-driven and the lines sound like they could have been lifted from an unknown Peni practice. The most impressive achievement lies in the tense, almost uncomfortable atmosphere they recreated. It is a vision of a macabre Dantean circus produced by a madman's mind. Absolutely brilliant stuff. The lyrics are superficially non-sensical as the band played with syntax and word sonorities in order to confer meaning to their sound, not unlike in poetry: "Charlatan churlish chaplain churns out chapters of babble".

- Psycho Flowers: a Scottish anarchopunk band with a heavy, slightly metallic sound and gruff vocals that I already tackled when reviewing the "They ain't seen nothing yet" compilation Ep. Although not really spectacular, PF was a band that definitely heralded the typical UK hardcore punk sound of the 90's. "Who's the scum" was actually a rather angry diatribe about Napalm Death selling out and attested to the slow but unavoidable dislocation of the UKHC scene in the late 80's. 

- Paradox UK: beefy old-school punk-rock fronted by Spike, who sang for Blitzkrieg and ran Retch Records. I like Paradox UK. They had a heavy and groovy sound with a cool Motörhead influence and Spike had a raucous, rough-hewn voice that still sounded rather tuneful and I definitely recommend the "Disenchanted land" 12'' ep from 1990. The song "Abuse of power" was originally written by Blitzkrieg.  

- Active Minds: a tuneful number from Scarborough's finest anarchopunks. "Take it back" is about, well, taking control of our own lives and is reminiscent of Bad Religion, albeit with that typical raw sound that Active Minds have always had.

- Slander: one of the first bands that I reviewed for Terminal Sound Nuisance with their "Politicians cause it" 1992 demo. Slander were from Hull and epitomized perfectly the 90's UK hardcore-punk sound, updating the classic sound of GBH, The Varukers or One Way System with a more modern, heavier production (which didn't alway work, let's face it). Slander remind me an awful lot of a beefed-up Mau Maus, especially the vocals. "Freedom" is a good song with a cracking heavy bass sound that carries the whole thing. It is about the fall of the Berlin Wall and how capitalism was quick to invade the newly "freed" countries, thus replicating the same system of Western exploitation. Pretty dark and angry lyrics. I like it.

- Trottel: a classic anarcho band from Budapest that is relatively famous in France (we do love experimental punk-rock over here and they play quite often). Trottel have been playing since 1985 and truly developed a sound of their own throughout the years. I am not familiar with all their records but the song included here is great. Female-fronted anarchopunk with a psychedelic postpunk feel, not unlike The Ex jamming with Contropotere and Dog-Faced Hermans at the Post-Regiment's house or something. It is really good. 

- Chumbawamba: of course, they were going to be included on this. This is late 80's Chumba, very poppy, not unlike Madness I guess. This is music that would not scare off your granny. The lyrics are smart and subversive, as usual for them in the 80's, and were a tribute to Harry Goldthorpe, a sociologist from Bradford that worked on social classes and was an original "Bradford bad lad". 

- Spongetunnel: a band I know virtually nothing about... They were from Chicago and released a couple of pop-punk records in the late 80's. One of the blokes, Russ Forster, also ran Underdog Records. Musically, I cannot say that it is my cuppa tea as it is too rock'n'roll-sounding for me but I can imagine people getting into it.

- M4 Alice: now we are talking. Absolutely brilliant and inspired English gothpunk. M4 Alice is a band that sank into the punk netherworld and completely escaped me until I unearthed this compilation a few weeks ago. How I could forget about such a good band will remain one of Humanity's greatest unsolved mystery. There is little information floating around about M4 Alice. I think they were from London and released two records in 1985 and 1988, the latter being distributed by Plastic Head which makes it even more unexplainable that they remain so obscure. Granted, they played a genre which had probably become unfashionable by the time they were around, but there is quality in the songwriting and had it been released on a PDX label in 2012, people would be all over it. Of course, it is reminiscent of classic bands like Sisters of Mercy or Sex Gang Children, but I also hear a strong deathrock influence, some "Cacophony"-era Peni arrangement and some of the demented psychedelics of Smartpils as well. A definite highlight of the compilation. 

- Indian Dream: formidable anarchopunk from Scarborough. I already raved about Indian Dream in the article about the tuneful side of 88/92 anarchopunk but they are a band I cannot get enough of. Indian Dream had this fabulous classic UK 80's anarcho sound and aesthetics (without mentioning the cheesy, idealistic moniker), tuneful and melancholy, with strong female vocals, postpunk guitar leads and catchy choruses to die for. "Our land..." is a rather moody, poppy yet dark, song about racism and nationalism that is sadly even more relevant today than it was then. If you are looking for the perfect blend of Lost Cherrees, Omega Tribe, Karma Sutra and Skeletal Family then you are in for a proper treat. A winner.

- Telic Tribe: that is a really obscure one as Telic Tribe only recorded that one song and the internet remains silent about this lot. First, like Indian Dream (and in the spirit of City Indians, Flux of Pink Indians and Omega Tribe), a name like Telic Tribe suggestively indicates pacifist anarchopunk with tunes and second, the artwork and lyrics reminiscent of The Mob points in the same direction... Am I mistaken? What do you reckon? Telic Tribe played indeed dark, moody, if not mournful, mid-paced anarchopunk that is really quite impressive. They remind me a lot of The Next World's most melancholy songs (especially in the vocals) and of Kulturkampf. Telic Tribe were from the Channel Islands, Guernsey, which was very uncommon, and apparently had a demo that I am dying to hear. 

- Pink Turds In Space: I have always loved PTIS but their name probably rates as one of the worst ever, especially when you consider that they also had quite serious political lyrics... Oh well, that was the sense of humour of Belfast punks I guess. Fast and thrashy hardcore-punk with amazing, striking raucous female vocals. PTIS were made up of ex-members of anarchopunk bands like Toxic Waste and Asylum and after the band's demise, some of them formed Bleeding Rectum in the early 90's, an equally unfortunately-named band that is still very much worthy of attention. Of course, "Teenage kicks" is a manic, punk as fuck cover of The Undertones. 

- Sofa Head: yet another band that was tackled in the article about the 88/92 era of anarchopunk. Sofa Head was very much the continuation of the amazing Dan with a new singer and Lainey from HDQ and Leatherface on the drums. They played female-fronted tuneful hardcore-punk influenced as much by the UK scene as the US one. The guitar leads are crispy and melodic and I cannot help thinking that a band like Sofa Head must have been an important influence on bands like Harum-Scarum or Mankind? The song "Invitation" was recorded live and sounds much angrier than the studio version. 

- Nitro Puppy: a band totally unknown to me from Brighton. This is sadly not my thing at all. Grungy garage punk that still might appeal to some I presume.

- Incest Bros: aka Incest Brothers from Leeds, a fun-loving, silly hardcore band that always puts a smile on my face (after all they did headline the "Totally Crap Festival" with Skum Dribblurzzz in 1985 and had a demo entitled "Ugly but proud"). However, Incest Bros were much more tuneful than their name suggests and played fast and anthemic US-flavoured hardcore-punk with some great bass lines as the song on this compilation shows. 

- FUAL: probably one of the best punk bands ever to come out of the Belfast scene. FUAL was made up of people who had been involved in bands like Stalag 17, Toxic Waste or Crude and Snyde during the early days of the Ulster anarcho scene. This was a really innovative band that could play fast hardcore music, dark and moody punk-rock or upbeat poppy punk. The vocals of Louanne were incredibly powerful and strong, neither really sung nor shouted but still able to convey a whole range of conflicting emotions. It is difficult to find points of comparison when dealing with such a unique band but I guess that FUAL would have been comfortable sitting with Leatherface, Stalag 17 and Potential Threat. "20 years on" (here in a live version) was a song about the political situation in Northern Ireland and a criticism of the idealistic and dogmatic vision of Chumba about this issue that they expressed on their "Revolution" Ep. FUAL were compelling and possibly one of the very best anarchopunk bands of the late 80's. Top shelf.

- Warfear: of course, there had to be at least one song of utter aural savagery on a late 80's compilation from Northern England and Warfear proudly took this coveted spot. Most people who weren't there at the time (and even if they were, Warfear was pretty much a local band) must have discovered the band through the Crust War Lp reissue of their various demos from 2007 but Warfear actually did manage to appear once on a proper record in their lifetime: "Wild & Crazy Noise Merchants". Warfear was made up of Rich from Sore Throat on the guitar, Bri Doom on the drums, Chris (who would play in Health Hazard and Doom later on) on the bass and one James on vocals. As you can expect from such a line-up, Warfear played blown-out, fast and brutal crusty hardcore that, of course, brought bands like ENT or Chaos UK to mind, but was also very much influenced by noisy Japanese bands like Gai or Kuro. "Dig your own grave" is a raw, aggressive, groovy, pummeling number with undecipherable barking vocals. Just fantastic. 

- Chris Halliwell & Mary Johnston: oh boy... How am I supposed to review this? This is a folk song with a distinct Americana feel but I know nothing about this genre so I am not going to delve too much into it. I like the voice of Mary though. 

- Greenhouse: well, this is indie rock music with a punk vibe. I never thought I would have to write an indie band but here it is. Greenhouse appeared to have had some sort of success as you can find proper music videos of their songs on youtube and they released quite a few records. It is pretty catchy and uplifting and I must admit that it can work on sunny days.

- The Wonderful Thing Called Tiddles: what an albatross of a name... But it is actually much better than I remembered it to be. Dark cold-wave with a drum machine and winding guitar leads that is aptly depressing, sad, ethereal and urban. I wish I knew the genre better It must work very well on rainy days.

- The Clearing: this is... postpunk music with a strong poppy feel. Pretty catchy as well, this could definitely have achieved some kind of mainstream success. The mood of the song is rather light and uplifting but there is a dark undertone to it that makes it quite memorable and I can definitely imagine myself dancing to its great tunes at an after-party. Apparently The Clearing only appeared on this compilation. 

- Wild Willi Beckett & Jont: a local Bradford duo that played weird folky and dark experimental music with dark ominous music. I unexpectedly like it actually. Both Jont and Beckett also played in the Psycho Surgeons, an insanity-driven postpunk/goth-rock band that used theatrics and sounded like a mix of New Model Army, Sisters of Mercy and Southern Death Cult. Not a bad way at all to end the compilation actually.  

And I will leave you with the own words of 1in12 Records:

"We are not party to the record industry which exists to make personal profit, to supplement the state system & to perpetuate the myths in society! Noise of the revolution."

Wild and Crazy "Noise Merchants"

The Astronauts "Restricted hours" tape 1979

I am not going lie: I used to absolutely hate the Astronauts. I thought they were just ridiculous and fell under the terrifying category of "non-punk bands". But then, we didn't really meet under the best circumstances.

In 2003, I spent a year in Manchester where I got introduced to the marvellous world of crust-punk music. I had heard of a band called Hellbastard and I soon became obsessed with finding one of their records so that I could at last listen to them. I found the website of "Acid Stings", a label that had actually put out a Hellbastard cd subtly entitled "In grind we crust". So I wrote the label an email to see if they still had it. Two months after (or something equally ridiculous by today's standards), I finally got a reply and I ordered the cd. When I received the parcel, I noticed that there was a tape accompanying the Hellbastard cd. A tape of an unknown band called "The Astronauts".

Needless to say that I overplayed the Hellbastard cd, carefully skipping the "Natural order"'s songs though, and that my obsession with UK crust was only increased by the record. So when I played the Astronauts for the first time, I was appalled. I thought it was absolute rubbish compared to the filthy and heavy sound of Hellbastard (getting both at the same time, I couldn't really help comparing them). I mean, THERE WAS NO DRUMMER!!!! What kind of punk band doesn't have a drummer?? I was almost outraged and quickly proceeded to confine the Astronauts' tape to the "shitty music I don't care about" realms.

Years later, La Vida Es Un Mus reissued the Astronauts' Lp, a name until then tied with the notion of musical nightmare. But I gave them another shot and I found myself liking the music. It must have been because by that time I had listened to a lot of early anarchopunk bands who were keen on experimenting with music (Poison Girls, The Mob, Zounds, Apostles, Flowers in the Dustbin, Chumba, The Ex, Blyth Power...).

In fact, technically, this tape is not even a proper Astronauts' recording. The two songs "Getting things done" and "Still living in a car crash" were recorded in 1979 under the name Restricted Hours, who were the Astronauts under a different name, and were originally released as a split Ep with The Syndicate on RARecords, a label that also released an Ep by the fantastic Alien Kulture. The label Acid Stings, probably an Apostles-run label which also explains the Hellbastard connection (one of HB used to play in the Apostles as unbelievable as this might sound), reissued the two songs on tape along with two other songs recorded in 1980, a live version of "Protest song" and the brilliant "Moderation is boring".

As you can see, the artwork is really beautiful and illustrates the psychedelic nature of the Astronauts. Musically, they are certainly hard to pinpoint, but experimental music of an acid-fuelled, psychedelic nature (you know, Hawkwind and all that) blended with some mid-tempo punk-rock and an anarcho perspective might be close. I must admit that I don't know many bands in the punk world who sound like them though it can be said that some bands had the same kind of ideas and drive to make unique and different music. The lyrics are smart as well and you can understand what's the singer is on about without too much effort, which is a nice change from the usual racket.

I eventually got to see the reformed Astronauts a few months ago and I really enjoyed the music live, probably more so than on records (funnily enough, it is the exact opposite with Hellbastard) so give it a try, especially if you are on shrooms.

Astronauts!